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Posted

One of my favorite books, and mentioned in the last good books thread we had here awhile back is "Stranger to the Ground" by Richard Bach. Definitely a "must read" if you're into Air Force flying, given to me by a great friend and mentor (and former BONE pilot).

Worth checking out.

Guest SuperStallionIP
Posted

They are not really aviation related, but if you like British SAS stories, I recommend Immediate Action and Bravo Two Zero from Andy McNab. Some of you have probably already read them, but for those that have not, you will like them.

Posted

There are also a crap-load of great book available for download in PDF format for free at the USAF Historical Studies Office.

A couple other books I recommend (other than some of the aforementioned 'there I was' stories):

-The Gulf Between Us, by Cliff Acree (Gulf War POW story)

-Benjamin O. Davis Jr, American, by Ben Davis Jr. (Amazing autobiography and story of the Tuskeegee Airmen)

[ 21. November 2005, 19:24: Message edited by: Hacker ]

Guest CrewDawg1
Posted

From a WWII buff some good reads:

-Band of Brothers

-Flags of our Fathers

-The Greatest Generation

-Flyboys (havn't read it all but so far so good)

Present day book

-Uknown Rider by Scott Anderson

[ 21. November 2005, 19:36: Message edited by: CrewDawg1 ]

Posted

A decent F-4 book is "War for the Hell of it- A fighter pilots view of Vietnam". It talks a lot about the crews back at base and gets a little into the beginning of Laser guided bombs.

Posted

Once a fighter pilot by Jerry Cook, Fast Movers by John Sherwood, and Wings of Fury by Robert Wilcox are all good reads. Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War was written by William Smallwood, the same guy who wrote Strike Eagle and is also pretty good.

Posted

Im reading "eye of the viper" right now and its great! Follows a group pilots through training at Luke. The best part is the stories that the IP's have.

Posted

Read some of the feedback about the book (eye of the viper) from the studs that the books follows... if you google or go to amazon youll see that the author was not giving the full truth (according to the studs)...

An interesting read no less.

Chuck

Posted

I'm zipping through "Eye of the Viper" and I love the way the author describes the aircraft. There are some wonderfully written passages in that novel. I cant believe anyone hasn't posted the series of five books by MARK BERENT, starting with "Rolling Thunder" and going all the way through "Eagle Station". Those books read like movies. They are each compelling and powerful. If you pick up no other books, grab those and "Fate is the Hunter" by Ernest K. Gann. Another fun and easy read is Bat-21. Anything by Steven Coonts has my vote too. Flight of the Intruder is always a classic. PM me for more if need be, but that ought to keep you busy for a while.

Cheers,

Stuck

Posted
Originally posted by Swingin:

One of my favorite parts of Sierra Hotel is the 'Dear Boss' letter written by a certain ACC/CC (at the time Captain). The minutiae today was alive and well 30 years ago, except for maybe Wingman Day. Use the search function in the link Hacker posted to find the letter, worth a read.

The Dear Boss letter is in the Appendix, right after the Weed Story.

Weed, Appendix I, pg 187.

Letter, Appendix II, pg 190

Hoser

[ 22. November 2005, 17:07: Message edited by: Hoser ]

Guest nikes45
Posted

"Phantom over Vietnam" is a good read.

Posted

Sleepy,

Bach may have turned into a bit of a new-age fruitcake, but he was one hell of an aviator first, and remains to this day one of the top three most talented pilots ever to put pen to paper and describe what it's like to fly. (Right up there next to Gann and St. Exupery)

Stranger to the ground is a fast read, describing a night flight from an air base in England, to Chaumont France in a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak. One of the top five books ever written about aviation. If you're a pilot, you'll love it.

Another suggestion (and off the beaten path at that) would be:

Sea Harrier over the Falklands, by Commander "Sharkey" Ward.

From the back cover:

"Sharkey Ward commanded the 801 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Invincible, was senior Harrier advisor to the command, flew over sixty missions and was warded the DSC. Yet had he followed his instructions to the letter, Britain might well have lost the Falklands War

His dramatic first-hand story of the air war in the South Atlantic is also an extrordinary, outspoken account if inter-service rivalries, bureaucratic interference, and dangergeous ignorance of the realities of air combat among many senior commanders. As Ward reveals, the 801 pilots were fighting not just the enemy, exhaustion, and the hostile weather, but also the predjudice and ignorance of their own side.

This one may be a hard find, I got mine in England. ISBN-1 85797 102 7

Posted

Alright guys I will be the pinhead that tries to break you out of the USAF mold. If you read one book not related to flying, but will make you a better officer/person, I would vote for "General George Washington: A Military Life", by Edward G. Lengel.

I was forced to read it last year by the Marines and it turned out to be one of the best books I have ever read. I will mention in passing that after reading this book, I came to the conclusion that there was never a finer American then George Washington.

Give it a shot and you won’t be disappointed

  • 1 month later...
Posted
Originally posted by Johann:

A few books more contemporary (OEF/OIF):

"Not A Good Day To Die" - About the fiasco that lead up to the Battle for Roberts Ridge (Taka Gur)

THREAD REVIVAL!

I picked up Roberts Ridge : A Story of Courage and Sacrifice on Takur Ghar Mountain, Afghanistan at the BX today as I recalled there was a good book out there on the events of that day and a quick glance at this book led me to believe this was the one I was hunting for. In actuality it was probably Not A Good Day To Die that Johann mentioned above, but this still looks to be a good read. Has anyone read it yet? I will probably start it this weekend, and will let you guys know my "review" once I'm done. According to the reader's inputs on Amazon, this book is more focused on the events of March 2, 2002 whereas Not A Good Day To Die goes into much more detail regarding Anaconda.

I am looking forward to this, as it has been a while since I've found anything really interesting to read. I picked up Every Man A Tiger but to be honest I was quickly bored by all the sickly-sweet admiration Clancy wrote on Horner. Don't get me wrong, I have met and have great respect for Gen Horner, and his career has certainly had a much greater impact on the USAF than mine, but I find this style of writing to be a bit over the top for my tastes. Clancy's Shadow Warriors was more intriguing, be he also drooled over Carl Stiner in that book as well. Fighter Wing did last long with me as well, am I being too tough, or is it that these books are targeting John Q. Public and not someone who has been in the military??

Cheers! M2

Posted

By the way, I am being told the hot books to read now are Thomas P.M. Barnett's The Pentagon's New Map and Blueprint for Action : A Future Worth Creating, which are driving US strategy within the Beltway. Barnett is a former professor at the US Naval War College and senior advisor to the OSD. If anyone has read these, or has some gouge on this guy, please post some info. He is really causing a stir and I think anyone above the rank of captain should take a moment and find out why he is causing such commotion. He has a web site, and you can see an interview with him here (be advised, the video is almost an hour long!).

Cheers! M2

[ 19. January 2006, 18:05: Message edited by: MajorMadMax ]

Guest sickels101
Posted

I highly suggest all of the Dale Brown novels (Flight of the Old Dog, for example) for all of you B-52 wannabes. Nothing entertains more than the "Megafortress."

Posted

The Limits Of Airpower by Mark Clodfelter.

Airpower from WWII though the end of Vietnam. Reads like a textbook but the author was a history professor at te Academy. Very well researched.

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